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"Growing up on a farm in New England, and then working in the
field after college with Outward Bound, the entire time I needed to
wear good, heavy-duty work pants, but there was nothing
available. So I was wearing my dad's hand-me-downs or sewing
my own," Sarah Calhoun says. "There are so many things about
being in business and in agriculture that are male-dominated.
[There's something] symbolic about walking through a man's
world in a man's pair of pants that makes you feel
uncomfortable."

Calhoun talked about the pants problem so often, she recalls,
that "someone said, 'If you're serious about it, why don't you
start your own company?'" So in 2006, she did just that, founding
White Sulphur Springs, Mont.-based Red Ants Pants (so called because female
ants do all the work).

The reaction was overwhelming: Women called her in tears, she
says, moved that there were finally work clothes designed just
for them. "These are women working in a man's world, all the time
up against crazy challenges. Something as simple as having a pair
of pants that fit makes a world of difference for them."

But Calhoun has done even more for her community. In 2011 she
launched the Red Ants Pants Music Festival as "a time to
celebrate and put down our tools." The festival in turn funds the
Red Ants Pants Foundation, which gives grants to develop
leadership roles for women and to support rural communities and
working family farms and ranches. Last year the foundation gave
grants to 10 local businesses, organizations and causes,
including a youth-center community garden, a farmers market and a
girls' leadership initiative.

Courtney Cowgill, who co-owns Prairie Heritage Farm near Power,
Mont., received a grant to purchase a stone mill. Her plan: grind
the heritage and ancient grains she grows into flour, creating a
new revenue stream for her farm.

"It's scary when you know you're on the edge of something that
you know is going to be big, but you're one of the
pioneers--that's when it's hardest to invest in expansion or
equipment," Cowgill says. The Red Ants grant, she explains, was
"the kick in the pants we needed to get off the ground."

Although most grants are awarded locally, the application process
is open to the general public. "The idea [is] to prioritize
people with similar missions to ours," Calhoun says, adding that
the foundation plans to organize women's leadership retreats and
further develop programs to teach women traditional skills like
timber framing and metalworking.

Red Ants products are sold only through the company website,
storefront and "traveling pants parties," and Calhoun is
committed to keeping all manufacturing within the U.S. "There's
something to be said for being better, not bigger," she contends.
In 2012 the company grossed $153,000. Revenue for the first
quarter of 2013 was up 58 percent over the same period last year.

"It started with this tiny company making pants," Calhoun says,
"but the culture around the brand is what's having the most
impact on people, directly and indirectly, and this momentum is
building."